Shola Balogun
Touch my lips with your tail, enthralling troubadour
And renew your ties twice now
With my triangular elements.
No winding muse can measure your flight
Still even with all the wisdom
From the far east of Paran
When you released your wings
At the lone songs of the weary Egyptian maid
And taught your folk arts to distant travellers.
Come into my dreams tonight, guardian bird of the
road
And make your nest with me, your proselyte.
Touch my lips with your tail.
* Shola Balogun (b. 1987)
Shola Balogun is Playwright, poet and writer from Yoruba,southwestern Nigeria. He was born in 1978, and he received his Masters Degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, specializing in Literary and Dramatic Criticism. He was the winner of the First Educare Trust’s Olaudah Equiano Poetry Prize (2002) and the Festival of Peace Poetry Award (2005) organized by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. He is the author of a collection of poetry, The Cornwoman of Jurare and Other Poems (2007). His books The Wrestling of Jacob, Praying Dangerously: the Cry of Blind Bartimaeus, and Death and Suicide In Selected African Plays, are available at Amazon and select bookstores. His play, Egue Eghae, is ready for the stage. Shola Balogun also writes stories for children.
